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The ability to act powerful rests on the ease with which individuals retrieve memories of feeling powerful

NEW YORK — The simple act of thinking back to a time when you felt powerful is linked to better performances in job interviews, presentations and exams. A new study by researchers at Columbia Business School and INSEAD published in the journal Social Cognition finds that a key factor shaping when these effects are likely to occur rests on the ease with which people can retrieve an experience of power.

“Power is an extremely pervasive force that governs our behaviours and determines the difference between success and failure in a number of interpersonal contexts,” said INSEAD Assistant Professor of Marketing David Dubois.

Adam Galinsky, Chair of the Management Division at Columbia Business School, noted that “merely remembering a past episode of power can significantly transform thinking, feeling and behaviours across social situations. It can also yield significant social advantages like greater optimism, persuasive abilities and eventually even land you a job. Conversely, if that ability to remember a past episode is compromised, it can limit a person’s potential to feel powerful.”

Given the potential implications of such simple interventions, understanding when and why they may indeed “build feelings of power” becomes important.

In the article, “Ease of Retrieval moderates the effects of power: Implications for the replicability of power recall effects”, Dubois, Joris Lammers of University of Cologne, Derek D. Rucker of Northwestern University and Galinsky conducted a series of experiments to show how the ease with which power episodes come to mind can affect the effectiveness of a power manipulation inducing people to think about a power episode during which they had or lacked power.

This proposition was tested across a series of experiments in which 1) people were asked to remember an episode of power or powerlessness 2) ease of recall was manipulated or measured and 3) people’s response toward well-known consequences of power such as greater confidence or greater likelihood to disobey orders was measured. Specifically, classic work shows a sense of high power is typically linked to make participants more confident and able to stand up for themselves, hold on to resources or even act selfishly, going against the greater good for their own gain. The authors tested whether a change in the ease of recalling a power experience would moderate these consequences.

For instance, in one experiment, disobedience – a by-product of power – was tested with a scenario in which participants’ landlords asked them to move out of their rented homes as soon as possible. Social psychology finds high-power individuals are much more likely to speak out when they disagree. Consistent with these findings, the results of this experiment revealed that participants in the high-power condition were more likely to be disobedient, to stay longer in the rental, when they could easily retrieve a memory of power. However, having difficulty in retrieving such a memory dramatically reduced this tendency. Overall, high power led to participants being disobedient, to stay longer in the rental, but only when retrieving a power memory was easy.

Participants in another experiment were asked if they would exceed the speed limit when running late for an appointment. Those in the high-power condition were more likely to break the law than those in the low power condition, but again only when retrieving a power experience was easy (vs. hard).

“Our research shows that power is not something that can simply be given or an individual can be made to feel. The ability for people to feel powerful enough to carry out ambitious plans will depend on their ability to easily retrieve small but meaningful experiences of power they’ve accumulated throughout their journey, not through some magic wand,” said Dubois.

For organisations, this suggests that power sharing may be a key enabler to generate feelings of power across collaborators, overtime. This could take the form of involving workers in participatory projects and activities, engagement, and small power experiences to encourage employees to remember they are in control of their destiny and resources. A personal sense of power may just stem from accumulating short episodes of power.

To learn more about the research, as well as other cutting-edge findings from leading business school academics, please visit gsb.columbia.edu or knowledge.insead.edu.

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About Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School is the only world–class, Ivy League business school that delivers a learning experience where academic excellence meets with real–time exposure to the pulse of global business. Led by Dean Glenn Hubbard, the School’s transformative curriculum bridges academic theory with unparalleled exposure to real–world business practice, equipping students with an entrepreneurial mindset that allows them to recognize, capture, and create opportunity in any business environment. The thought leadership of the School’s faculty and staff, combined with the accomplishments of its distinguished alumni and position in the center of global business, means that the School’s efforts have an immediate, measurable impact on the forces shaping business every day. To learn more about Columbia Business School’s position at the very center of business, please visit www.gsb.columbia.edu.

About INSEAD
As one of the world's leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD offers participants a truly global educational experience. With campuses in Europe (France), Asia (Singapore) and Middle East (Abu Dhabi), INSEAD's business education and research spans three continents. Our 145 renowned faculty members from 40 countries inspire more than 1,400 students in our degree and PhD programmes. In addition, more than 11,000 executives participate in INSEAD's executive education programmes each year. INSEAD’s MBA programme is ranked #1 by the Financial Times in 2016 and 2017. More information about INSEAD can be found at www.insead.edu

About the researcher

Adam Galinsky

Adam Galinsky is currently the chair of the Management Division and the Vikram S. Pandit Professor of Business at the Columbia Business School. Read more.